Posted on 03/20/2005 11:30:51 PM PST by freebilly
Birth rate among Roseland teens, especially Latinas, alarms officials
Teen pregnancy has become such a serious concern in southwest Santa Rosa that medical providers plan to ask the school board to let them prescribe contraceptives at the health center on the Elsie Allen High School campus.
"It's so prevalent that it's having a serious impact on our community," said Enrique Gonzalez-Mendez, medical director of the Elsie Allen Health Center, which sees five teenage pregnancies a month.
"It's a tragedy to see the potential of so many of our young men and women hindered by pregnancies."
Roseland, which health officials have identified as a teen pregnancy "hot spot" in California, has one of the highest teen birth rates in the state, according to a review of state and county health data.
Teen pregnancies in Roseland's ZIP code are highest for Latinas, with a rate of 156 births per 1,000 teens. And while the rate for white teens in the area is lower, 55 births per 1,000 teens, it is still nearly four times greater than in the rest of Sonoma County.
The statistics are troubling to health officials because infants born to young mothers have a higher risk of low birth weight, school difficulties, poor health and a life dogged by poverty and family instability.
Rosa Arias, 17, the mother of two children, became pregnant with her first child, Victor, when she was 12 years old.
"Before I had my son, me and my sister would always be going to the movies, just trying to stay away from home," she said, noting that she would leave to avoid family arguments.
Rosa, who had her second baby two years ago, lives with her mother in a three-bedroom apartment. She shares a single bed with her children and her 12-year-old brother.
"I try to see myself in the future being a teacher, a preschool teacher," she said. "When I go by the JC (Santa Rosa Junior College), I say, 'I want to go to college,' but I can't see myself doing it."
She's part of a program to help keep teen mothers in school. But the physical, mental and financial support isn't always present for teens trying to move forward.
The 95407 ZIP code, which includes the Roseland area, had an average Latina teen birth rate that was more than double the comparable state and county rates between 2000 and 2003, according to an analysis of birth records.
The 2000 Census shows that the central tract in Roseland had an overall teen birth rate in the top 3 percent statewide. Contributing factors
Immigration and poverty are critical factors contributing to Roseland becoming a teen birth "hot spot," according to health officials.
The area has seen a dramatic influx of immigrants, primarily from Mexico, which has higher fertility rates than the United States and where teen pregnancy is not viewed as negatively as it is in the United States.
Birth rates among foreign-born mothers are traditionally higher than that of the general population, said Mary Maddux-Gonzalez, the county's public health officer. The higher rates, she said, reflect the prevailing cultural and social norms of an immigrant's country of origin.
But those early births also bring long-term challenges.
Studies show teen mothers are more likely to have had academic troubles and mental health problems such as depression before becoming pregnant. Many come from broken or unstable homes. Some have also experienced sexual, emotional and physical abuse, and their children are themselves likely to become teen parents.
"They don't feel they have the option of going to college, getting a higher degree," said Rory Gibbens-Flores, outreach and health education manager for the Southwest Community Health Center. "Their mothers had children when they were young." Trend from '90s
During the 1990s, county health officials started noticing the rise in Latina birth rates in southwest Santa Rosa. In 1996, a state grant allowed health officials to focus efforts in the area with parenting programs and abstinence counseling.
At the national level, birth rates among Latina teens are on the decline, though at a slower pace than rates involving other ethnic groups, according to a recent study. The report, "Hispanic Teen Pregnancy and Birth Rates: Looking Behind the Numbers," was released last month by Child Trends, an independent research organization in Washington, D.C., that focuses on issues related to families and children.
Between 1990 and 2000, the national teen birth rate declined by 29 percent for all teens, but only by 15 percent for Latina teens. The report states that a "combination of higher pregnancy rates and a lower percentage of abortions accounts for the higher birth rates among Hispanics." Church influence
Gonzalez-Mendez, who grew up in Mexico City, says many Latina teens, especially recent immigrants, are Catholics and adhere to the church's opposition to abortion.
A recent report by the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy at UC San Francisco found that immigrant teens from Mexico were less likely to use contraceptives than first- and second-generation children of Mexican immigrants.
Researchers and public health officials note that Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the county's population.
"If we don't continue to make investments in community programs that focus on youth development, as well as family planning services, I would anticipate that the numbers of teen births will increase," said Claire Brindis, director of the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy.
Still, not all of the figures are discouraging.
County officials say the overall drop in teen pregnancy rates countywide is due to family planning initiatives that encourage regular use of contraceptives, as well as the promotion of abstinence as an alternative.
County officials have worked with local organizations such as Community Action Partnership, Catholic Charities and Social Advocates for Youth to address the issue.
"We are making progress among the Latina population," she said. "But the trend in California for Latinas is reducing at a slower rate."
Sharon Oman, the county health department's maternal, child, adolescent health coordinator, says "hot spot" statistics help the county focus family planning efforts where they are needed.
"There's always hope," she said, "and this helps us to work in different ways with this culture."
Over the past twenty years that area went from being 10% Hispanic to about 75% Hispanic.
Yup, and how many are illegals or the offspring of illegals? I bet many of those teen pregnancies are new anchor babies (or second generation anchor babies).
Hispanics tend to welcome their babies and enjoy having large families. If they end up as the major population component, who will Anglos have to blame for it? (I'm Anglo, so no flaming please.)
I'm always puzzled at why they don't adhere as strongly to the prohibition on premarital sex.
The article says absolutely nothing about illegal immigration. Why is it necessary to assume every article about someone from Mexico is some conspiracy that involves illegal immigration??
If so (that many unmarried teen mothers are not legal residents), perhaps the unmarried teen mothers want to give birth to anchor babies.
Rosa Arias, 17, the mother of two children, became pregnant with her first child, Victor, when she was 12 years old
How would prescribing contraceptives at the high school help someone like Miss Arias? She would have still been in elementary school or junior high school when she conceived her first child.
Just want to reiterate that this is not purely a Hispanic issue. But I can't figure out why the Anglo kids also have a high pregnancy rate, unless it is peer pressure or some such. I do find this frightening, though, since I live very close to this area! I regularly pass Elsie Allen on my way to the grocery store.
Maybe some of the unmarried teenage mothers are white and also Hispanic?
In tandem with the growth of the Wine industry over the same period. I gather these are the offspring of the grape pickers.
Probably, in part, because pre-marital sex isn't a mortal sin.
Agree
Also who is responsible for having sex with a pre teen child?
The other interesting stat is that 4/10 of all black pregnancies are aborted. Doing the math, is it any wonder that the Democrats have aborted themselves out of winning many elections in recent years?
Planned Parenthood is not acomplishing their goal in educating young sexually active girls. (sarcasm/kinda)
Unfortunately, either she was too immature to know what she was doing, or she was victimized by someone. No mention of the father(s) is made in the article, so who knows if he/they were prosecuted.
LOL!
That was going to be my post, too.
So it's okay for them to be a Catholic and a slut as long as they don't have an abortion?
Paradise By The Dashboard Light.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.